Priorities USA: We're not sitting out 2014

Stung by headlines that it’s planning to sit out the 2014 cycle, the pro-Hillary Clinton super PAC Priorities USA is asking its donors to contribute to efforts to keep the Senate majority and to take back the House.

The memo, from Priorities executive director Buffy Wicks, insists to donors that the group is not sitting on the sidelines during a competitive 2014 midterms cycle.

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“We are asking all our strongest supporters to do all you can to help hold the Senate and win the House,” Wicks wrote. “We know from our friends at the other Super PACs that many of our most committed supporters have already weighed in. The cross-pollination between Priorities USA Action donors and donors to the House and Senate Super PACs is impressive. So if you have given, thank you. If you have yet to give, please understand how high the stakes are and donate.”

It goes on: “The next Democratic President will have a much easier time if she — or he — has a Democratic House and Senate.”

“There has been recent press reports that we are ‘sitting out’ this cycle. That’s not true,” she wrote.

Wicks noted that Priorities has made major donations to outside efforts to support Democratic groups, and is coordinating with those groups to avoid collisions on fundraising this year.

The story that Priorities planned to sit out the 2014 races — first reported by Buzzfeed — stoked ire and concern among Democrats about Clinton’s commitment to helping other members of her party.

“No one should sit out the 2014 midterm elections, period. Priorities USA Action, which was founded to preserve, protect and defend the Obama Presidency, was not born with an eye toward congressional races. However, the upcoming midterm elections are so critical for our future and the ability of the next President to govern that we must engage,” Wicks wrote. “The first battleground of the 2016 presidential campaign is the 2014 mid-term elections. That is why for over a year we have had regular communication and coordination with the folks running the Democratic Super PACs focused on the 2014 House and Senate races.”